The Agency for Quality in Medicine aqumed  (Aerztliches Zentrum für Qualität in der Medizin aezq), Berlin – Germany, is a non-profit organization owned by the German Medical Association (BAEK) and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV).

aqumed was established in 1995 in order to appraise, initiate, and organise national and regional health quality programmes on behalf of the self-governing bodies of the German healthcare system in cooperation with national and international partners.

aqumed  major focus lies on

• analyzing and processing medical knowledge, the so-called »evidence«
• appraising and / or producing guidelines, quality indicators and patient information on important medical issues
• disseminating and implementing evidence-based guidelines
• coordinating error prevention and patient safety measures
• developing methodologies for guidelines and evidence-based healthcare
• identifying and appraising quality innovations.

aqumed  programmes include

• National Program for Disease Management Guidelines http://www.versorgungsleitlinien.de/;
• Patient Information Service of German Healthcare Professionals http://www.patienten-information.de/ - with the "Training Manual on Developing Evidence based Patient Information".
• Information Forum for Quality Management in Medicine http://www.q-m-a.de/;
• Evidence-based CME program http://www.leitlinien-wissen.de/;
• Programme for Patient Safety and Error Prevention http://www.forum-patientensicherheit.de/;
• German Clearinghouse for Guidelines and Evidence in Medicine http://www.leitlinien.de/;
• Programme for Standards of Quality Indicators (cf. AQuMed documents on  http://qi.aqumed.de/

aqumed  hosts

• The office of the German Network for Evidence-based Medicine DNEbM e.V. http://www.dnebm.de/;
• The office of the Guidelines International Network G-I-N http://www.g-i-n.net/.

aqumed  holds the editorship of

• The German Journal for Evidence and Quality in Health Care (Zeitschrift für Evidenz, Fortbildung und Qualitaet im Gesundheitswesen - ZEFQ)
  Pubmed: Z Arztl Fortbild Qualitatssich;
• Clinical Evidence Concise - German Edition (Kompendium Evidenzbasierte Medizin).

AQuMed is a Founder Member of The Guidelines International Network G-I-N. The network's aims and goals were discussed for the first time during AQuMed's Guideline Workshop Clinical Practice Guidelines 2002 in Berlin.

More Information on AQUMed's Guideline Projects in English:

International Guideline Databases (Link collections) – A service by AQuMed and The Guidelines International Network G-I-N

• National Programme for Disease Management Guidelines
  • National Disease Management Guidelines - Englisch Language Information
  • National Disease Management Guideline Asthma. Guideline Report (Version 1.1, August 2005, 283 KB)
• German Guideline Appraisal Instrument DELBI
• Dissemination and Implementation of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Germany 
• German Guideline Clearinghouse (Description, Tools)
  • Critical Appraisal of CPGs on Hypertension
  • Critical Appraisal of CPGs on Cancer Pain
  • Critical Appraisal of CPGs on Acute Back Pain
  • Critical Appraisal of CPGs on Asthma
  • Critical Appraisal of CPGs on Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
  • Critical Appraisal of CPGs on Coronary Heart Disease
  • Critical Appraisal of CPGs on Depression
  • Critical Appraisal of CPGs on COPD
  • Critical Appraisal of CPGs on Diabetes Mellitus Type 1
  • Critical Appraisal of CPGs on Breast Cancer

• Critical Appraisal of Clinical Performance Measures for Quality Management